


Nice Ash

by EvergreenEmerald



Series: It's a fire thing [2]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, Family Issues, Gen, Gender-Neutral Frisk, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Human/Monster Romance, Other, Parent Grillby (Undertale), Past Relationship(s), Protests, Racism, Reader Is Not Frisk, Riots, Sequel to another fic, Soul Bond, Soulmates, Unplanned Pregnancy, gender-neutral parent, grillby is your dad, reader has blue hair, reader has fire magic/fire form, reader is female, reader is half monster, reader is massage therapist, zaza is mom/dad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-28
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-12 20:35:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9089755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvergreenEmerald/pseuds/EvergreenEmerald
Summary: For your entire life you have waited. Years of staring at the mountain that your Zaza came out of, waiting for the barrier to fall. There was someone you wanted to meet that lived in that mountain, with the help of a skeleton who won't stop telling fire puns, you finally meet your father, have your parents get back together, and the three of you can become a family after all this time. But it won't come easy.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is a sequel to a Grillby/reader oneshot i did months ago. the reader previously is your biological mother who is gender-neutral and goes by they/them and Zaza=mama/papa and Zizi=aunt/uncle. i made them gender-neutral for the first part of the fic but then had inspiration to make them pregnant for the part two of that fic. obviously they had female body parts or else that wouldn't happen. (I tried to do another chapter for if they were male, but because i generally picture my readers female i had no idea how to do that, i will later hopefully)
> 
> so now "you" are the daughter of the reader from The Flame in the Mountain which is part one, i suggest you read that before this. it explains a few things, like why your Zaza calls you booper.
> 
> I hope you enjoy and let me know if you notice any errors! :3 (also, if it looks familiar, it's because i accidentally uploaded it before i was done and took it down)

You are sitting in your living room, playing with your toys. You are pretending to cook a plastic dinner. You look at your parent as they flip through papers with pictures of pretty buildings and people smiling. All day, you were at the bookstore with them and you noticed something about the other children, besides none of them having odd colored hair like you, something that they all seem to have in common. “Hey Zaza?”

 

“Hmm?” Zaza was smiling at the paper in their hand.

 

“Where is my dad?” Zaza suddenly became tense; their hands jerked and ripped the paper slightly. You wait quietly for their response, pouting out your lips for them not avoid answering you for once. You are seven, not stupid.

 

“Um, why do you ask?” Zaza looks to the side as their nose scrunched up.

 

“Well you have a dad, Aria’s baby has a dad, and I see other kids with their dads. Shouldn’t I have a dad too? Pops said you wrote a story about how you met my dad, where is he?” You pull your knees to your chest and draws circles with your finger in the rug.

 

Your Zaza sighs as they slide onto the floor with you. “Booper come here.” They hold out their arms and you crawl into their lap. “Your father… he is trapped somewhere and he can’t get out, not yet. Many people like him are stuck there. But when he is free, we’ll be right here waiting for him. Do you know why we live here, in the woods by the mountain?”

 

You shake your head. “Why?”

 

“Because up on that mountain, just a few miles from here, there is a cave, with a large magical barrier and behind it is where your father lives. Once that barrier falls, he will be able to come out. We will be the first people he sees when he is freed.” They smile at you as your eyes go wide.

 

“He is in that mountain!?” You jump from their lap and slam your body into the sliding glass door. “Really? He is really that close?” You placed your hand on the window, admiring the large mountain. You stroked your hand on the glass, hoping to feel something from your father. You see Zaza walk up to the door to look with you. Their face looked like it was in pain, the same look you get whenever you ask to go to school with the other kids. They held a hand over their chest; you can see the familiar purple glow under their hand. Their SOUL is reacting to the mountain? Or is it because of your father? “When will I get to meet him?”

 

They give you a strained smile; you know that that isn’t their real smile. “I’m not sure; I hope it will be soon. But no matter how long we will have to wait, I will wait for him, even when I’m old and grey. I’ll wait…”

 

“I’ll wait too! I’ll grow up strong and master my magic and show him!” You jump up and down before hugging your Zaza’s leg. “Do you think he will like me?”

 

“Oh hon, Grillby will absolutely love you, my little Booper.” They pat your head, weaving their fingers through your short light blue hair.

 

 

* * *

 

~ Years later ~

 

“Hello ___, I am here for your magical healing hands.” You chuckle as you come out to the waiting area after cleaning your station. Mrs. Jamison is an elderly woman with chronic joint and muscle pains; she has been coming to your healing center for two years now.

 

You cross Mrs. Jamison’s name off your clients list for the day as she slowly gets up. “Well of course Mrs. Jamison, you are one of my most loyal patients. I must provide you with the best care, the tips you offer up aren’t half bad either.” You joke around with the elderly woman as you lead her down the hall to your room where a massage table was prepped and ready for the new body to be worked on to lay. “You know the drill; I’ll give you some privacy as you undress. I’ll be back in five.” You close the door and wait for her to call out to you.

 

“Oh ___, you have a phone call.” One of your co-workers called out to you from the break room.

 

“Coming.” You crack your hands and start massaging them, warming them up before you get back to Mrs. Jamison. You walk over and take the phone from your co-worker. “Thanks. Hello?”

 

“Hey Booper. I’m going to need a huuuuge favor.” You hear your Zaza’s voice come out of the receiver.

 

You sigh, smiling at the nickname your Zaza gave you when you were still a baby campfire in her stomach. “You need me to cover at the bookstore for you.”

 

“Would you? I mean, you don’t have to come till after your shifts at the healing center.” You chuckle at your Zaza’s timid voice; they were still shy about relying on you. All those years of them raising you pretty much by themselves has made it hard for them to ask for help, especially from you.

 

“Zaza, I live in the apartment above it and already work there on my off days. It is fine. So where are you going this time?” Your Zaza is a major bookworm that speaks and reads in multiple languages and is a super hero of the literature field. They are often called to translate books written in ancient languages, sometimes having to travel the world. You would go with them all the time till you were fourteen and your Zaza thought it was safe for you to join the other kids. High schoolers wouldn’t think twice about your light blue hair and why it doesn’t change.

 

You hear your Zaza sigh on the other end. “England… they are refusing to send me the pictures so I can work here… I will be gone for maybe a month, more or less. I’m leaving tonight… so uncool…”

 

“You don’t like traveling anymore do you?” You laughed at them, which earned you a grunt.

 

“No, I'd much rather stay here and read my books. I like my library of a home, thank you very much… well I should pack. Thanks again, Booper. I love you.”

 

“Love you too Zaza, bring me back some awesome teas.” You hang up the phone and go back to Mrs. Jamison. The sweet old woman was lying on the table, ready for her massage. “Ready for my healing hands, oh loyal client?” You hover your hands over her bare back.

 

“Hon, I was born ready. Get to work girlie.” You chuckle as you concentrated your magic down to your hands. Your skin turned blue and a harmless light blue flame engulfed them. Your hands went to work on the old woman’s tired back, burning away the tension and pain that comes with old age.

 

* * *

 

“Please ___! What is the thing Zizi says…uh I’m your brother from another mother, you gotta help me out, right?” Zaire begged behind you as you unlocked the front door of your Zaza’s bookstore.

 

You sigh and look back at the fifteen year old boy who was pleading with you to let him hide out at your house. “Don’t use my Zaza’s weird 90’s slang on me. No Zaire, I don’t have to help you hide from your parents’ wrath. You should actually study, that way you won’t have bad grades on your report cards. Seriously, just do your homework.” You open the door with full intentions of locking him out.

 

“Pleeeeeaaaase ___, I’ll do it. I swear, just let me hide here till Mom cools down.” He is giving you the look, like a sad-puppy-that-was-just-kicked-to-the-curb-into-a-puddle-in-the-middle-of-a-winter-night-look.

 

“Fiiine, but you are doing your homework. No messing around on YouTube.” You shake a finger at him as you hold open the door for him to walk in.

 

He gives you a big smug smile and struts inside. “When did you become an adult? Thanks sis.”

 

“Yeah yeah, this is your second year in high school. You should have learned your lesson last year, slacker. It’s a good thing I love you like you are my bro-” You freeze as you were about to enter the store. You felt like something had just kind of ‘popped’ in the air. Your skin tingled and you felt your internal fire begging to be released. You took a deep breath to calm yourself; don’t want to cause accidental fires again. You look back and see a flock of birds fly away from Mt. Ebott as the setting sun’s rays shine down on it. Your SOUL urged you towards the mountain, which isn’t abnormal. Your desire to explore the mountain and find your father has been strong growing up, but you learned to be patient and wait for the barrier to fall… whenever that happens. Could it be…? You shake your head and enter the store.

 

* * *

 

 _“There were reports of a live walking skeleton two nights ago that walked onto Main Street, yelling and frightening passersby. That was the first sightings of these ‘monsters’ that have just been released from the mysterious mountain, Mt. Ebott. There hasn’t been any new developments as of lately, Mayor Patterson has closed off the mountain from the human population and has given no comment other than a meeting with the monsters’ king will take place to decide what is to happen. But can we trust these beings to not attack us innocent hu-”_ You turn off the TV; everything you needed to know was already confirmed. The barrier broke, the monsters are free. That means… You hurriedly get dressed into jeans, hiking boots and a fitted wife-beater tank top. You have learned that if your clothing wasn’t tight enough to your body, it would catch fire. You brush your hair more thoroughly, you had once hated the light blue color that made it hard for you to blend with the other human children, but now it was your pride and joy because it was proof that you were your father’s daughter and that he exists in this world. You push your hair back with an old ribbon head band that you have had for years. Aria, your godmother and Zaire’s mom, gave it to you, saying it went well with your hair. You've worn ribbons in your hair ever since.

 

“Okay, look good. I’m gonna do it. Here I come, Dad.” You run downstairs and out the front door of the bookstore but run face first into someone, both of your heads smacking against each other’s.

 

You rub your head and look up to see Zaire. “Ow, man… I knew it… ___, you can’t.”

 

“Huh? What? I don’t know what you are talking about. I’m just going to Zaza’s house to water their plants.” You walk past Zaire, twirling your keys to your truck on your finger.

 

Zaire sighs, tightening his leather jacket around him. “You can’t lie to save your life. You know you aren’t allowed on the mountain yet, Dad built that fence for a reason, ya know?” You open the passenger side door, clearing off the seat, and then walk over to the driver side to get in. “I know you want to see your dad, but you have to wait till Dad gets stuff settled.”

 

“You getting in or what?” You called out the still open door as you turn on the truck.

 

Zaire sighs again as he lowers his head in defeat. “Yeah, I’m coming.”

 

“Good, going to be just like when we were kids.” You say as he gets in and you start driving.

 

“Oh no… ___, no.” Zaire pulled his beanie down to cover his eyes.

 

You laugh at him as you turn onto the dirt road that leads to Mt. Ebott. “Don’t worry; I don’t plan on setting anything on fire again.”

 

“Not comforting.”

 

* * *

 

You are sitting behind a tree with Zaire as you wait for the soldier to walk out of sight. “Seriously ___, we should just wait till my dad has his meeting with the king. He is the mayor, I’m sure he can arrange for you to meet your dad.” You shake your head. This is something that you have waited your entire life for; you are going to find him yourself. You peek around the corner; the soldier is slowly marching towards the corner.

 

You raise a hand as you watch him take the corner; as soon as his boot disappears, you lower your arm and get up. “Okay… now.” You run quietly over to the fence and start to climb.

 

“Come on ___, we shouldn’t be doing this.” Zaire runs his fingers through his hair out of frustration.

 

You look down at him, half way up the fence. “Quit worrying and get your butt up here. It’ll be fine.”

 

“No it won’t. Get down right now Blue.” You freeze and see Zaire’s father, Mister Mayor Patterson, standing behind Zaire. He is in one of his nicer suits today and has his hair combed back. His secretary waved a quick hello before going back to work on his phone.

 

You almost fall off the fence when you hear the deep commanding voice. “Holy shit, h-hi Uncle RJ.”

 

“Oh hey Dad, how’s it going?” Zaire tried to act nonchalant as he laughed nervously.

 

“Not so great considering a certain son of mine was grounded for having an F on his progress report, and now my goddaughter is trying to trespass on private property. Please Blue, off the fence. There is a reason why I put the fence there.” He crosses his arms at you two and gives the signature ‘I’m disappointed’ parental look.  You jump off the fence, feeling like a child who was just caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

 

“But… Uncle RJ, the mountain…” You looked back at the mountain.

 

RJ sighed and dropped the stern look for a softer, understanding smile. He stepped closer to you and spoke in a lower tone so his secretary couldn’t hear. “I know, but we have a few things to settle before people can easily mingle with the monsters. You are just going to have to wait to find him.”

 

“But-”

 

“Heya, you called?” You are cut off by a sudden voice from behind you. You turn around to see two skeletons standing on the other side of the fence; taller one in what looked like a cartoon superhero outfit, and the shorter one in basketball shorts and a baggy hoodie.

 

“WOWIE NEW HUMAN, I LIKE THE COLOR OF YOUR HAIR!” You are thrown back by the sheer power of his voice.

 

It took you a few moments to compose yourself, you look back at Zaire who looked just as shocked as you and RJ was trying very hard not smile. You clear your throat and look back at the enthusiastic skeleton. “Th-thank you…”

 

“YOU ARE VERY MUCH WELCOME, YOU MUST BE THRILLED TO BE COMPLIMENTED BY I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!” You giggle as he strikes a pose, the smaller skeleton looks like he is about to fall asleep on his feet. The Great Papyrus notices this and picks up the sleepy skeleton. “SANS! DON’T FALL ASLEEP; WE ARE ON ESCORT DUTY FOR UNDYNE!”

 

“Five more minutes bro…” Sans answered after Papyrus stops shaking him, and goes straight back to sleeping, snoring quietly. Papyrus sighs heavily and just throws Sans onto his shoulders.

 

RJ comes up to the fence with his secretary and clears his throat. “Hello Papyrus, it is nice to see you again.”

 

“AH, HELLO HUMAN LEADER! READY FOR YOUR GET-TOGETHER WITH KING ASGORE?” Papyrus walks closer to the gate and unlocks the chain, letting them inside.

 

RJ laughs, looking up at the tall skeleton. “Well of course, I expect this meeting to go wonderfully. I hope everything will run as smoothly as possible for all of you.”

 

“THAT IS FANTASTIC, SHALL WE?” Papyrus gestures RJ and his secretary to take the lead. “GOOD-BYE HUMANS, I HOPE WE CAN MEET AGAIN AND HONOR YOU WITH THE TITLE OF BEING MY FRIEND.”

 

“Wait!” You press yourself against the fence. “Do you think you can bring me with you? I’m looking for someone.”

 

“UM, WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR BLUE HAIRED HUMAN?” Papyrus halfway turns to you and tilts his head. You even notice Sans has opened one of his eyes (sockets?).

 

RJ’s eyes go wide and you can feel Zaire trying to pull you back. You ignore them. “I’m looking for someone named Grill-”

 

“AH! Papyrus we are going to be late! We really should be going now. ____, go **home**. And don’t think about sneaking in again, I’m sending more guards around the mountain after this incident.” RJ pulls on Papyrus’ arm and points a finger at you as his tone turned less friendly, dad-mode activated again. Papyrus goes with them, confused but willing. Sans, still on Papyrus’ shoulder, stared you down as they walked away. You slump your shoulders in defeat.

 

“Come on ___. Lets go. You know dad is doing this to keep everyone safe right? I mean, he built the fence not to keep the monsters in but to keep humans out. He has to take care of both these populations and do what is in their best interest, not just yours.” Zaire pulled on your arm more gently.

 

You looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “That is quite insightful for a fifteen year old boy.”

 

“Yeah, I’m actually a genius… who may have asked dad to take you with him last night and was told the exact same line.” You laugh at Zaire’s honesty. You sit down in front of the fence. “Hey, what are you doing?”

 

“Just give me a sec. I just need to be as close as I can be for now.” You lean your head against the fence. There is no way you are going to wait for all the political stuff to be settled, that will take forever. You are just going to have to come back on your own, later tonight.

 

* * *

 

Sans stared at you, completely in wonder. He wouldn’t have taken a second look at you if it weren’t for those pleading eyes and the fact it sound like you were about to say Grillby. But the human mayor or whatever interrupted you. Sans knew that the guy was hiding something, he seemed way to cool with this whole, monsters coming out of the mountain thing. Like he already knew that they were down there… Your outburst seemed to have confirmed it for him. Sans pondered more of what your appearance could mean as he was being carried over Paps’ shoulder. “HERE YOU ARE HUMAN LEADER AND ASSISTANT. KING ASGORE IS WAITING IN HERE FOR YOU WITH SOME TEA AND MY AMAZING SPAGHETTI!”

 

“Thank you Papyrus, I’ll see you after my meeting.” The humans enter a make shift hut that sits just outside where the barrier used to be. Monsters were free to come and explore the outside but have been told to not get ready to move to the surface till homes have been set up. Monsters that have come out haven’t actually gone back in and have been camping out to watch the sky change throughout the day. For Sans, the stars are what made him believe that the Resets were over. He never had seen them despite coming to the surface many times to see the sunset. The kid would usually reset before it became night and he would wake up in his bed again, stuck underground.

 

Speaking of the kid… “Heya kiddo… bro, you can put me down now.”

 

“FINISH YOU INCISIVE NAPPING? HONESTLY SANS, HOW YOU MANAGE TO FALL ASLEEP STANDING UP, IN THE MIDDLE OF AN ESCORT JOB IS BEYOND ME!” Papyrus ranted as he set Sans down on his feet again. Frisk barreled into Papyrus, giving him a tight hug. “HELLO MY HUMAN BEST FRIEND, I SEE YOU HAVE MISSED ME. HOW COULD YOU NOT, FOR I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS! NYEH HEH HEH!”

 

“Yeah bro, you are the coolest.” Sans grinned at the two as they hugged. Frisk turned from Paps and hugged Sans, clinging onto his arm. Frisk was finally able to break the genocide cycle and has been very clingy to their friends, always holding onto someone who was nearby. The skeleton brothers and Tori seem to be their favorites right now. “Were you waiting for us kiddo?” Sans pat them on the head as they started to sign about their day with Tori, when Sans noticed a certain monster come out of the mountain along with others. Grillby sighed as he stepped out, looking up for any rain clouds, straightened up his vest and patted a pocket on his vest with a sad expression on his face.

 

Sans remembers the human down below at the fence. Sans looked down and he could see you still there, sitting at the fence, thanks to your bright blue hair. Frisk tapped his shoulder to get his attention again. **“Sans?”**

 

Grillby started walking down the mountain, and Sans took this as an opportunity to confront Grillby. He walked up to the fire monster with Frisk still clinging onto him, not quite sure how to talk to him about the human, but figured he should since she was so desperate. Grillby gave him his silent greeting. “Hey Grills, there is a human at the gate… asking for you, by name…” Grillby’s eyes actually opened, sparks flying, and he took steps closer to Sans.

 

“Where?” Grillby spoke louder than Sans has ever heard him speak.

 

“She begged to be let in with the other human, but he wouldn’t let her.” Sans points down the mountain, but you were already gone. “Oh, she left… Uh, Grills?” Grillby wasn’t beside him anymore. He was taking long strides down the mountain.

 

Sans left Frisk behind and followed Grillby. “Sans… I need to go after them…”

 

“I don’t think that is possible right now. You heard how the humans reacted to Papyrus when he went to go greet them on the first day we came here.” Sans has never seen Grillby like this, he is really _fired_ up, heh. “How do you know a blue haired human anyways?”

 

Grillby stopped in his tracks. “Blue?”

 

“Yeah, and she looked kind of young too, I guess for a human, much younger than the human working with Asgore but older than Frisk.” Grillby looked down the mountain again.

 

“They didn’t have blue hair…and they would have aged… it wasn’t them…” Grillby whispered to himself.

 

Grillby turned around and headed back to the mountain. “Uh Grillby… were you expecting a human?” Grillby paused, gave the fence one more look before continuing.

 

“No… why would I…” It didn’t sound like Grillby was talking to Sans anymore. Sans looked back at the fence, he has a feeling you will be back, if the determination he had seen earlier told him anything, it would be soon.

 

* * *

 

You sat in a bush, waiting. It was night time now and Uncle RJ was true to his threat, more guards were around the fence now. There is no way you will be able to climb the fence without being noticed… but if you were to go through it… The nearby guard turned his head and you took this as your chance. You stand up and throw a rock in the way he was facing to lure him further away. He took the bait and you run across into a bush that was against the fence. Lying on your stomach, you quickly heat up your hands and start melting a hole into the fence. Once the hole was big enough, you push your bag over first and then you crawl on your elbows to the other side. You run to a tree and hide behind it. You look back; the guard seemed to have not noticed you. You sigh in relief and start to walk forward when you run straight into someone. You are face first with a skeleton monster. You are about to scream when a hand is pressed over your mouth. “Whoa there kiddo, if you scream I scream, and then the police will come and it will get awkward, so lets not do that.” You stare into the monster’s sockets; there are little lights that seem to twinkle like stars staring at you. Deeper, you could see sparks of magic moving inside his skull. It was kind of pretty…

 

You nod with his hand still on your mouth. He lowers his hand and puts it back in his sweater pocket. “I saw you earlier…”

 

“Yeah, I’m kind of hard to miss.” He gestured to his face. “The same can be said for you, you seemed a little _blue_.” He motioned towards your hair.

 

You run your hand through your hair and chuckle. “And it seems you have caught me _red_ handed too.” There was a little gleam in his eye socket. You motioned towards the fence. “So are you going to turn me in?”

 

He tilts his head and brought his hand to his chin, thinking for a moment. “Nah, I think I’ll give you the _green_ light to keep going, on the condition of you telling me why you are here.”

 

You smirk at his pun as you dig something out of your bag. “I want to give this to someone.” You hold up a small picture album and he reaches out to look at it, but you pull back. “I told you why I am here; you didn’t say I had to show you anything.”

 

“Don’t use that _tone_ with me, or I’ll _maroon_ you here.” He pointed at you. Still doing color puns? “Come on, now who do you want to give that to? I might know them.”

 

He turns from you and starts walking up the mountain. “Really? You are going to help me?” He turns back with a smug grin.

 

“Yeah, I’ll be tickled _pink_ to help. By the way, the name is Sans, Sans the skeleton.”

 

* * *

 

“Ugh, snow… why is there snow underground?” You and Sans are now walking through Snowdin. You are frowning at your frozen surroundings.

 

“What? I think it is very _ice_.” You frown even more, the first two puns he said made you smile, but now… it is really testing your patience. You are pretty sure he is telling so many puns because he enjoys the cringing face you make when he does. “Are you going to be okay? I don’t want you to be chilled to the bone when we get to Grillby’s.” He starts to take off his jacket for you, but you hold up a hand.

 

“No, I’ll be fine; the cold weather never bothered me… I just don’t like being touched by cold things… makes my skin crawl.” You make a disgusted face and try to tread through the snow. At least you didn’t have to walk through the entire mountain. You notice there isn’t very many monsters out as you walk through town.

 

Sans sees your eyes wandering and speaks up. “Majority of people are camping outside to watch the sky change and then fall asleep under the real stars. We have been wishing for them for so long, it’s hard to come back inside.”

 

“I can understand that, for years I have wished to go inside the mountain, once I heard the barrier fell I came as soon as I could.” You mumbled, it more was more to yourself than to Sans. It was silent between the two of you after that. You weren’t sure what to talk about so you just stuck to following Sans, keeping your eyes on his back. Why is he so willing to help you find Grillby? What is his motive?

 

“We are here.” You are so deep in thought that you don’t notice him stopping, running straight into him. “We should really stop running into each other like that; you might end up _falling_ for me.” Sans chuckled at you as he points you to a building that says ‘Grillby’s’.

 

“Does your brain think of anything other than jokes and puns?” You frown at him as he holds the door open for you.

 

Sans just gives you a shit-eating grin as you both walk in. “No, since I don’t have one, on account of being a skeleton and all.”

 

You look around in amazement; it was very homey and pleasant. You also notice the juke box in the back of the room next to the bar. Your eyes wander to the bar and all the bottles lined up on the wall. Then you freeze at the person you see standing at the bar. Their back was towards you but you knew it was him. If being made of fire wasn’t a sign that it was him, than the way your SOUL is reacting right now sure is. It is constricting and pulsing, wanting to flip around. You grip the strap of your bag, nerves were starting to take over and you were stuck. “Is that him? Really him?”

 

“Yup, that’s my man Grills, best food in all of the Underground… don’t tell my bro I said that.” Sans chuckled nervously.

 

You gulp, despite your dry mouth. “I… I can’t… what if he doesn’t like me?”

 

Sans pats you on the shoulder. “You came all this way; you shouldn’t leave without trying… want me to stay with you?” You think about it for a moment then nod.

 

* * *

 

Grillby turns around, hearing someone knock on his counter. “Hey Grills, can I have the usual?” Grillby chuckles at Sans’ odd taste in drinks… err… condiments. He lifts up a bottle of ketchup from under the counter and drops it in front of Sans. This is when he first notices the human sitting next to Sans. Sans gives him a big grin and points to the human. “This is the girl I was telling you about today.”

 

Grillby eyes the girl sitting in front of him. That really is a beautiful shade of light blue, reminds him of the center of a flame on a candle, and her facial features look similar to… he shakes his head and waits for the girl to place an order. He must have been staring for too long because she seems nervous, squirming in her seat. “Um… I…want to show you something…” She pulls a book out of her bag and places it on the counter. Turning it towards him, she opens to the first page and there are pictures of his human lover that had left to the surface all those years ago. Grillby takes the book and starts flipping through it, he notices that they were getting larger in the stomach region as he flipped pages. They were with child?

 

Grillby looked up at the woman again, also caught Sans leaning over the counter to look as well. “This is….?” She nodded at him and Grillby continued to flip through the pages. They gave birth to a child with all white hair; the book was filled of pictures of the child as they grew.

 

“Yeah, that’s them. They are pretty amazing aren’t they?” Grillby noticed the child’s hair was different colors; orange, green, red, purple, orange again and then finally settled as light blue-

 

“You’re their child…” Grillby looked at the woman before him, the curves of her face, the color of her eyes, the nervous gestures she made under his stare, just like them.

 

She nervously pushed her hair behind her ear. “Um, yeah, imagine how shocked they were when they found out they were pregnant a few weeks after coming out of the mountain.” She coughed into her hand, a puff of smoke came out, and she straightens herself up. “H-hi, I’m ___ and…” She held up a hand, her skin starting to change to a bright blue, starting at her figure tips and down to her wrist. Small flames danced around her hand. She gave Grillby a sheepish grin while Sans’ jaw went slack. “I’m yo-your daughter.”

 

There was a moment of silence as everyone was registered what she had said, till Sans spoke up. “Whoa Grills, she takes after you, she is _hot._ ”

 

“Not now Sans…”

 

* * *

 

For the next two weeks you have been going to the mountain every night. You would climb under the fence, be given a heart attack by Sans who insisted on walking you to and from Grillby’s (something about doing his job as an escort, but you think he just wants to bug you with fire puns), and then spending the entire night talking to Grillby. You did most of the talking, filling him in on your life and how your Zaza was doing. He tells you a few things about himself, or his bird monster friend would talk for him to you. Grillby still seems a bit shy around you, unsure how to act around you. You would walk in and a few people would call your name and Sans’, and then Grillby would fumble in the back with a glass he is cleaning or nearly drop something he is handing over to a customer. Today was pretty much the same thing.

 

You enter with Sans, say hello to everyone and go sit with Sans at the bar. You checked for a whoopee cushion before sitting every time now. Aaaand there it was. You lift up the old gag toy as you sat down and turn to Sans. who was excitedly waiting for the fart sound. “Sans…”

 

“Hmm?” He grunted looking away from you.

 

“Look at me.” Sans slowly turned towards you and you shoved the whoopee cushion into his face, letting out the fart sound he was waiting for. “You dropped something on my seat again.”

 

Sans blinked at you a couple times and then his smile widened. Both of you were laughing together. “Ah, you got me kiddo.” Sans wiped away a tear from his eye socket.  

 

You playfully punch him in the shoulder. “What’s with you and practical jokes?” You continue to giggle. Okay, so maybe you like hanging out with Sans, but you could live without the puns.

 

“Heeeey, Sansyyy!” A drunken bunny girl came over with a bottle in her hand. She draped an arm Sans shoulders and took a swig of her drink. “Whazz wisth you and all thesse humanss? First FFFrisk and now this one? Who are you an’wayss?” She jabbed a fuzzy finger in your chest a bit roughly.

 

You raise an eyebrow at her and Sans. “Quite the ladies’ man I see.” Sans just shrugged with a clueless look.

 

“DON’T IGNORE ME!” The bunny girl yelled, holding her bottle up in the air. “Who are you human?”

 

“She is my daughter…” Grillby spoke louder than you have ever heard him speak. You looked back at Grillby; he gave you a small nod as he continued cleaning a cup. You smiled shyly to yourself, cheeks feeling slightly warmer than usual.

 

All eyes in the bar were now on you, confused to how you could be Grillby’s daughter. “Huh? But she looks human to me?” The bunny girl leaned forward, pulling Sans closer as well.

 

You shrugged. “Only when I want to, if it’ll make you feel better, I can go into my more natural form.”

 

“Huh?” Sans and the bunny girl both said at the same time. You took a deep breath and focused on your magic, you have practiced control over it, to hold it back for so long, that letting it loose fully is foreign to you. You let out a deep breath, the familiar taste of smoke flew by your tongue, and you can feel your warm magic rush out from your chest to the very tip of your limbs. You look around and everyone was quiet, looking at you in awe. You look to Grillby who had stopped cleaning as he watched you, a small tint of blue and white where his cheeks should be. In the bottles and glasses behind Grillby, you could see your reflection. Your skin entirely blue, eyes white, and hair turned to a wispy flame that flicked around downward, unlike Grillby’s which went straight up. The way you look now makes you think that if Doctor Manhattan and Liz Sherman had a baby, it would look like you.

 

“Wow…” You look back at Sans who has stars in his eyes, he was still leaning in. The bunny girl left without you noticing.

 

“What? Don’t look at me like that…” You shy away from him and look forward to see Grillby is closer to you as well.

 

Grillby reaches out to you and gently caresses your cheek. “You really are my daughter… I can feel a bit of my magic in yours…” Your eyes go wide, but then you smile, leaning into his touch. It was nice to finally have that parent and child connection that you have been waiting for.

 

* * *

 

Sans is enjoying watching you bond with Grillby. Grillby actually seems just as happy as you are. You ended up giving Grillby a little show of your abilities, like your complete control over your flames. It was terrifying at first, you engulfed Sans in your fire and he thought he was about to turn into dust right there, but he didn’t. He felt pleasantly warm surrounded by your magic and it sparked around his bones. Grillby has done it to him before, but his flames never felt… good like that. Odd. But it was an interesting experience, and then you started laughing uncontrollably, saying he looked like a lazy ghost rider which proceeded with you taking his picture. You couldn’t stop laughing; smoke was coming out of your mouth as you wheezed. You later showed off your skills at massages by giving the red bird monster a shoulder rub that he confirmed to be just as great as Grillby’s burgers.

 

All the customers left later in the night, but you and Sans stayed till Grillby had to close up shop. Sans was leading you out the door when Grillby came out from behind the counter and hugged you wholeheartedly. It surprised you, but you returned the hug. Apparently Grillby was afraid to hug you, with him being emotional, he could lose control of his fire and he thought he would burn you. Now that he knows that that isn’t going to happen, Sans has a feeling he is going to hug you more often.

 

The two of you are now walking out of the mountain; you were still in your fire form. It’s kind of amazing that no humans noticed you and your abilities. Sans watched as your hair swayed around, vibrant blue, same color as his magic. You turn around smiling and Sans hastily diverts his eyes from you. “Thanks Sans, for helping me find my dad…”

 

“Eh, it’s no big deal.” Sans shrugged, slightly blushing blue. “I’m still shocked that Grillby’s old _flame_ was human. Didn’t even know monsters and humans could have kids. How did the humans not even notice you?”

 

You both make it outside and look up at the sky to see the millions of stars above. “My Zaza did everything they could to keep me safe. Home schooled me till I was fourteen, when it was normal for kids to dye their hair funny colors. We lived just over there.” You point towards the forest before sitting down on the cliff, Sans joined you, sitting a few inches away. “There is a cabin over there, about two miles away. There I was raised and learned to control my magic, it was hard at first. My Zaza hates the color orange now because of my old habit of running around and setting things on fire. I was a wild kid, and it was worse when I was upset, my whole body would burst into flames. My Zaza and Pops taught me ways of controlling my emotions by focusing on my breathing and relaxing. I started meditating, and then my hair turned this color, no idea what it means, but my hair represents my SOUL.” You played with a stand of your hair. “It’s not exactly the same color as my SOUL; I think my SOUL looks prettier than my hair. But what is really cool is when it is out when I look human and then I turn into my fire form.”

 

“What happens?” Sans inches closer to you, interested in hearing about your SOUL.

 

You laugh and push him away. “You haven’t even asked me out on a date and you are already asking about my SOUL, sly skeleton. No way, pun master, my Zaza said to save my SOUL for someone special.” Sans’ eyes go out and his face becomes completely blue. You start laughing again at his expression.

 

Sans huffed, crossing his arms. You got the best of him. “I don’t appreciate that joke.”

 

“Awe, I’m sorry, but you kept telling so many fire puns, I had to get back at you.” You giggle looking back at the town. “Hey Sans…”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“What do you think they’ll do when they find out a monster and a human had a child together?” You have this heartbreaking look on your face, Sans felt a pain in his chest. “My grandfather… my Zaza’s father… doesn’t accept me as his granddaughter, because of who my dad is… do you think they’ll all act like him?”

 

Sans looks at the town, lights twinkling in the distance. “I don’t know… humans seem more… _hot_ -headed than I expected.” You shove him slightly as he chuckled.

 

“Not all of them, and starting tomorrow you can see for yourself. Uncle RJ finally got approval to let you guys start living in town. You aren’t allowed to leave the town limits but at least you don’t have to camp outside anymore. And my… dad… agreed to stay with me for a bit.” You giggled to yourself, excited to spend more time with Grillby. Sans is happy for you, but he is kind of sad that you won’t need him to go visit Grillby anymore. No more midnight meet-ups and pun walks… He probably won’t see you any- “Oh, and I can also show you around town, take you to the bookstore. We have a lot of joke books that you can read to up your comedy game. And you can bring Frisk to come meet Zaire, you said they were 14 right? Zaire is 15 and is my human sidekick that I love like a brother. Oh and Zaire’s mom would love to meet you and dad. I can also show you where I usually work too. Maybe you can become one of my clients.”

 

You smile at him, your eyes were sparkling and fireworks were going off inside them. Wow. Sans was memorized by your firey eyes. “Pretty…” Sans snaps out of it and shakes his head. “I mean, that sounds pretty awesome. I’ll be sure to let Frisk know of your plans… you really want to hang out with me still? Even with my puns?”

 

“What do you mean? Aren’t we friends? Friends usually hang out, dork.” You laughed at him as you stand. “You have flaws and no flesh, but I guess you’re cool enough for me.” You wink at him as your skin and hair slowly turn back to your normal human skin color and hair texture. Sans feels anything but cool right now. He was now the one on fire, his face was burning blue.

 

“Good one kiddo…” He mumbled as he pulled his hood up.

 

You laugh and start heading down the mountain. “Thank you, I thought about that one for a few minutes. I’ll see you later!” You waved at him, not looking back. Sans was left up there in awe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW, arent these gender-neutral familia terms adorable?! I want to be called Zaza or Zizi too! I have to say, thanks to Undertale fandoms, i have become more aware of these types of terms and find myself using they/them without realizing it and i totally forgot about he/she. if you are gender-neutral, dont fret over being called mom or dad, coz u can use this cool ass name Zaza!


	2. Chapter 2

“So here is a sheet for you to use as a blanket, I don’t have a lot of blankets in here mainly because well you know… I’m sure it is the same for you…” You motion down to yourself. You were in your fire monster state currently as you gave Grillby a small tour of your little living space above your Zaza’s bookstore. Grillby and you spent most of the day together, you showing him everywhere across town, places that meant something to you such as your old high school and where you work. It was now late and you were awkwardly setting up your father on the couch for the night. Home is where you relax, as soon as you entered behind locked doors, your magic came bursting out. You don’t get to use your magic often which leads to build up; being in fire form while you sleep seems to help. You started doing that when you were twelve and it just stuck. As long as your bed doesn’t set on fire, you didn’t mind and felt very comfortable in this state. Sometimes you wished that you could just walk around like this all the time… maybe now you can.

 

“Thank you…” Grillby sat down awkwardly on the couch. It was a lot of fun being with him, one on one learning about each other, but you had a few questions that you weren’t sure how to ask. You stood there, fiddling with your fingers when Grillby started chuckling. “They do the same thing… something is on your mind, but you are nervous to say it out loud…”

 

You blink a few times at him as a smile spread across his face, remembering your Zaza fondly. “Heh you could tell? How do you remember something about them despite being apart for so long?”

 

Grillby’s face instantly turned blue as you asked him. “Well… you see…we are SOUL mates that made a confirmation, a bond… I should know my mate… I also was with them for quite a while before they left...”

 

“SOUL mates? Zaza told me about the whole… SOULs coming together… but uh…” Grillby patted the seat next to him for you to sit. You sit down and stare at him as you chewed on your lower lip. “Why did you spare them? They told me about the king wanting to kill all the humans that fell down there and that monsters were searching for them, so why?”

 

He chuckled again. “It was the same reason I knew they were meant for me… when I first saw their eyes, they just sparkled. I couldn’t stop looking at their eyes ever since… their eyes made me not want them to be harmed, the idea of handing them over to the Guard caused pain to my SOUL… I had to help them… Later, I knew what those sparkles meant as my feelings became more clear to me…”

 

“What?”

 

Grillby pulled out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to you. “Eyes are the windows to the SOUL… I could see that they were my destined SOUL mate. When your SOUL finds another SOUL that is compatible, your magic reacts to each other. They could feel this crackling and sparking feeling when they were engulfed with my magic. They don’t have any magic for me to feel, but I would have had the same feeling. Their eyes were enough for me though. Looking in each other’s eyes is like nothing you have ever seen in another’s. You may have their eyes, but I will only see that kind of beauty in theirs.”

 

For the rest of the night, Grillby filled you in on monster culture that your Zaza couldn’t provide. He taught you many things, especially on the SOUL mate matter. You feel that the gap between you and Grillby was slowly closing as he told you about the time he spent Underground with your Zaza. Even about how they taught him about cheeseburgers. It was becoming late into the night. After a few hours of talking, you both finally called it a night. You went back to your room with a letter that your Zaza had written to Grillby on the night that they left through the barrier with you in their womb. There is something that Grillby should really read too that is back at your Zaza’s house…

 

* * *

 

_“We are reporting from what locals are now calling the ground zero of monsters. It has been a week of monsters being allowed to live with the general public. As you can see behind me, many of the citizens do not agree with the new policy that the mayor has enacted. A few residents have packed their things and moved out of town, while others stay to protest outside City Hall to have their voices heard. Excuse me, why are you protesting against letting monsters live amongst humans?”_

_“Because they are disgusting.”_

_“Have you seen them? How can they be peaceful?”_

_“It’s all some sort of evil plot to gain our trust and then devour our children! Think of the children!”_

_“We worked hard to live here quietly, they don’t deserve it.”_

_“They are weird looking and totally creepy, I don’t want them anywhere near me.”_

_“I don’t trust them.”_

_“I want them out of my town.”_

_“They must be the ones causing all the disappearances on the mountain. Over thirty people have gone missing on that mountain in the last fifty years, some were children. Only two people ever came back.”_

_“Send them back where they belong. We don’t want them here.”_

 

 

You look up when you hear bells ring, letting you know someone has entered the store. You see Sans with a human clinging onto his arm, that must be Frisk. Cute… you think. “Hey Sans, this is Frisk?”

 

Sans smiles at you, waving with his free arm. “Heya, yeah, this is our ambassador Frisk, they tend to cling to us. You should see them with Paps, they climb right up onto his back and it is hilarious.” Sans and Frisk both chuckle at a fond memory. They come over to where you are working behind the cash register.

 

Frisk holds out their hand to you. “Hello, I’m Frisk, Sans has told me a lot about you.” They have a knowing grin on their face. Sans looks completely horrified, you raise an eyebrow at him.

 

“Oh really? What'd he say?” You lean forward for Frisk to whisper in your ear.

 

“Play along.” Frisk giggled.

 

You pull away, smirking. Sans looks like he is about keel over. “Le gasp, Sans, you are so naughty.”

 

“WHAT? I didn’t tell h-”

 

Frisk clears their throat.

 

“-them, I didn’t tell them anything of that nature. I just noticed how beautiful your eyes were and-…h-hey there Grillby… how’s it going?” You look to the left to see your father with his arms crossed at Sans, his flames crackling. You and Frisk giggle at the nervous skeleton.

 

You hear the bell ring again and see Zaire and Papyrus slam the door shut, their bodies pressed against the door as they both panted. “Uh, what’s going on with you two?” Papyrus made his way over as Zaire looked out the window cautiously.

 

“I MAY HAVE ANGERED A FEW HUMANS ON OUR WAY OVER TO THE NEW HUMAN’S HOUSE.” Papyrus sat down in one of the chairs, sprawled out completely.

 

Zaire pulled down some of the blinds and locked the door. “Nah dude, you were fine, it was those assholes. It didn’t help that they were seniors from my school, I’m not exactly the most popular.”

 

You snorted at him. “Yeah, this guy would come home all bruised and beat up all the time in middle school and primary school, till he started taking self-defense classes. When he saw something wrong, he would help people no matter what. But, the ‘popular’ kids didn’t like that too much. They would stop bothering you if you, oh I don’t know, used some of your ninja moves.”

 

“Yeah, well, my popularity status wasn’t helped too much when you would come and save me either. Also, not everything needs to be solved with you fists, words can have just as much of an impact without causing damage to your body. I’ll use my skills only when necessary. Me and Paps were fine outrunning them.” Zaire peeked outside again. “Besides, I don’t think monsters need any more negative attention than they already have, if I beat them up, you know they’ll blame Paps instead of me.”

 

“The kiddo has a point, people are still heavily protesting out there. They are even thinking about making one side of the town monsters only.” Sans stated darkly.

 

It’s true. Things aren’t going as smoothly as your uncle hoped. People have been nonstop picketing in front of City Hall all week. Monsters have been harassed as they explored the streets of the town, getting to know the area. Luckily, no one has been seriously injured, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen. You don’t know how you feel about letting the current monsters in the store outside at this point. Papyrus is just a sweet little cinnamon roll that you have this primal urge to protect. You obviously want your father to be inside or with you at all times when out on the town. And Sans… just the thought of someone hurting the chunky skeleton causes a great deal of pain shoot up in your chest. You can barely stand it. “Yeah, I think everyone should stay inside for the day. At least we have plenty of books in here for all of you to read.”

 

“OH YES! BLUE-HAIRED HUMAN! DO YOU HAVE ANY PUZZLE BOOKS OR ADVENTURES OF FLUFFY-BUNNY?” Papyrus stood up from his chair, the biggest smile on his face. You giggle and point towards the children’s reading area.

 

“I don’t know if we have any advanced puzzle books, but we do have every Fluffy-Bunny book written there.” You can see the tall skeleton practically vibrate from excitement.

 

Papyrus strikes a pose with a huge smile on his face. “NYEH HEH HEH! COME SMALLER HUMANS, WE SHALL DEEPEN OUR FRIENDSHIPS OVER OUR SHARED LOVE FOR FLUFFY-BUNNY!!” He then runs to the children’s section.

 

Zaire walks over, looking at Papyrus digging through many books of his favorite character. “Sure, whatever you say dude. But I haven’t really enjoyed Fluffy-Bunny since I was little; even then I wasn’t as excited as you are-” Zaire pauses when he hears Frisk chuckle and takes a few steps towards Frisk. “Uuuuuh, hi, I uh don’t think I’ve seen you, um around… before… I uh… I’m Zaire!” Zaire practically yells his name as he thrusts a hand towards Frisk to shake.

 

They jump back, looking down at his hand and then back at his face, which was slowly turning red. Frisk takes his hand and slowly shakes it. “Hello, I’m Frisk, it’s nice to meet you Zaire. Thanks for helping Papyrus, by the way.”

 

“Heh heh, it was… um no big deal… I uh, really like Paps, he is a cool dude, so… yeah, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to him… Hi, I’m Zaire…” Zaire looks like he is zoning out as he stared at Frisk, his face becoming even redder. You look at Sans and from the look in his eye (sockets), you could tell he was thinking the same thing.

 

Frisk giggles, still holding Zaire’s hand. “Yes he is and you already told me that.” In the background, you were making kissy faces at Zaire and Sans gave him a wink with a thumbs up. Zaire glared at the two of you, but when Frisk turned around, you acted like you and Sans were having a deep conversation about something. “Shall we?” Frisk motioned towards Papyrus, who had a steadily growing pile of books on the floor. You make one last kissy face at Zaire, who flips you off in return.

 

“Well, that was an interesting development.” You smirked then turned to Sans and Grillby. “I’m closing early today but you guys are free to go read something as well- oh wait, I just remembered.” You bend down and pull out an old paperback book with many creases on its spine. “It took me awhile to find it at Zaza’s house, but here, they wrote this when I was little. As soon as I was old enough, I read this book over and over, religiously. You should definitely read this.”

 

Grillby looked at it quizzically. “The Flame in the Mountain….?”

  

* * *

 

After reading a couple books, Frisk and Papyrus all left to Zaire’s house to play some games like they were going to do before running into those punks. Your father was sitting down, reading the book you gave them intently, and he took his time with it and read each page slowly. Sans was sitting at the counter with you, reading a joke book and occasionally testing them out on you. “What did one autumn leaf say to another?”

 

“I don’t know what?” You ask, flipping through your own magazine.

 

“I’m falling for you.”

 

“HUH?!” You almost tore your magazine in half as you turned towards Sans, your heart pounding in your chest.

 

Sans looks at you with a raised eye-bone.  “It said it was falling for the other leaf, cause you know, leaves fall during autumn?”

 

“Oh right, yeah, hah hah, funny.” You press a hand to your chest and sighed. “Why are you sitting over here with me? You know you could sit in one of our more comfortable chairs.”

 

“Nah, too lazy.” Sans flipped through a few more pages.

 

You cross your arms on the counter and lay your head on top of them as you watched Sans. “Oh, but you were willing to walk up and down that mountain with me for two weeks. That doesn’t sound like a lazy person to me.”

 

Sans tensed up, a light blue color dusting his cheekbones. “That’s different…” Sans shifted in his seat and coughed in his hand before turning back to the book. “Helping you was more important… to me…” It’s now your turn to blush.

 

You sit up straight and turn away from Sans, pretending to read your magazine again. “Oh, um… thank you Sans…”

 

“No problem…” Sans clears his throat. “What did the math book say to the pencil?”

 

“What?”

 

“I got a lot of problems.”

 

“Pfft.” You laughed genuinely, feeling all the tension from before disappear. Your laughter was cut short when someone burst through the front door. You see your Zaza as they stood there gasping. They started to make their way towards you when you pointed towards Grillby. “Hey! Zaza! I got a surprise for you!” They looked to their left and their eyes went wide.

 

“Grillby…” They whispered as he stood to face themm still holding the half-finished book. He whispered their name at the same time. He smiled at them as he looked them over. You could see your Zaza felt shy under the unwavering gaze.

 

They rubbed the back of their neck, unsure where to look. They finally settled on looking down at their feet. “Told you that vest would look good on you… um I know I left without saying anything and other things have developed.” They motioned back to you.

 

“Yo.” You give a nonchalant wave.

 

 “Um, but I didn’t have a lot of options, I didn’t think it would be safe for us to be together when so much was happening down there… um but the moment I came to the surface, I missed you. I missed you all these years and waited for you to be free!” They started crying uncontrollably now. Grillby reached out to them, placing his hand on their cheek and wiping away tears. “And I missed welcoming you because of my stupid job and I wanted to be first to see you.”

 

“It’s ok, ___. You’re here now…” He spoke to them as he rubs his forehead against theirs, and then he pulls them into kiss. It deepens as your Zaza wraps their arms around his neck.

 

“Whoo! Go Zaza!” You chuckle as you grab your things from behind the counter.

 

Sans shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Wow, things are really getting heated up over there.”

 

“Yup, they are SOUL mates after all. They knew from just looking in each other’s’ eyes. That’s why we are leaving.” You go on the other side of the counter and grab Sans' hand. “Let’s go.” You pull Sans out of the store and lock the door behind you. “There, they'll have some privacy while I’m at work.” You start walking off towards your other job when you hear someone clear their throat.

 

“That’s fine and all but are you going to let go of my hand?” You look over to see you were still holding onto Sans. He wasn’t looking at you, his free hand covered his face but some blue peeked through his fingers.

 

“Oh right…” You slowly let go of his hand and felt something stir around in your chest. Weird. The two of you stood there awkwardly.

 

Sans cleared his throat, getting your attention. “Um, I thought you had work?”

 

Right, work… “You haven’t seen my other job have you?” Sans shakes his head and you smile. “Want to be my first patient for the day?”

 

* * *

 

“Hello.” You call out as you enter the healing center with Sans.

 

One of your coworkers comes down the hall looking at some papers. “Hi ___, you’re an hour early. How are you todaAAAYYYY?!!” Papers go flying when she lays eyes on Sans. “Sk-sk-skeleton….” She pointed out of shock.

 

You look back at Sans, who has a conflicted look on his face. You honestly are not sure how to react either; do you laugh at the look on her face or scold her for being offensive? “Yeah, remember monsters came out of the mountain? This is Sans, I’m going to introduce him to what humans do to help de-stress. He is going to be my first customer today.”

 

She composed herself and started gathering her papers. “Y-yes, sorry… it still takes some getting used to…”

 

“Tibia honest, seeing so many humans is hard to get used to as well.” Your coworker tilts her head, trying to comprehend what Sans just said while you try to hold in a laugh.

 

“Come on, I’ll show you to where I give my massages and get you started.” You start walking down the hall with Sans behind you. As Sans walks by your coworker, he bends down to pick up a paper still on the floor, and hands it to her. You smile to yourself and pretend you didn’t notice.

 

“Th-thanks…” Your coworker mumbles towards Sans.

 

You open the door to where your massage table is and motion for Sans to go inside first. “So I’m going to go grab some oils, while I’m away you can take off your clothes and lay on the table. Don’t worry; you can leave on your shorts if you want.”

 

“Um okay?” Sans eyes the table, unsure. He is rubbing his arms nervously.

 

You chuckle. “Don’t worry; there is not much I haven’t seen.” You give him a wink before closing the door. Going to the back, you are trying to decide which oil to use. You aren’t going to be doing a traditional massage, so you aren’t even sure if you need the oils. While massaging Red Bird, you noticed that you really didn’t need to press as hard as with humans and you let your magic mainly do most of the work while your fingers just guided the motion. You assume it will be the same for Sans. You’ll admit you are a bit curious to what he looks like and kind of using your job to fullfil your curiosity on how someone like him would get a massage.

 

“Pssst, ___...” Your coworker from earlier poked her head in the room.

 

“Why are you whispering?” You looked at her oddly.

 

She walked in slowly, obviously nervous. “I was just um… how are you… how are you so accepting of them so fast? I don’t have anything against them! I’m just not used to them yet… maybe in a few months…”

 

You sigh grabbing for a bottle of lavender scented oil, the smell should be relaxing for him and you. “They don’t have a few months Clara. People want to push them back Underground.” You walk past her but pause. “How I accepted them so quickly is because they are living beings, as simple as that. They should be treated that way, not some sideshow.” Not technically lying, but she doesn’t need to know your personal background.

 

You enter the room where Sans was waiting to see him sitting in the chair on the other side of the room with his shirt off. He looked completely nervous and had his arms crossed, covering his ribs. You can’t help but laugh. “What?”

 

“Heh, nothing. Come over here silly, you need to lie down on this table. Put your face right where the hole is.” Sans walks over slowly and lies down on the table. You couldn’t help but chuckle at him. “I won’t bite you Sans. That costs extra.”

 

“You bite people?” Sans tries to get up to look at you but you push him back down.

 

“No, I am only kidding. Just relax okay?” Sans jumps at your touch on his bare bones. It felt warmer and softer than you expected. Definitely more alive than any other skeleton. Maybe you really don’t need the oil. You’ll do it without for now and see how it goes. Cracking your knuckles, you start focusing your magic into your hands. “I’m going to start now okay. Just so you know, this is going to be awkward and experimental. I have never massaged someone like you before. I’m sure your bones get tired just like our muscles do. I’m going to be mainly using magic to do this.”

 

“It’s already awkward, but okay. Just don’t play my ribs like a xylo-bone.” You chuckle as you start pulsing magic throughout your hands. You start off by his shoulders, your hands feathering across his bones and he let out a breath.

 

You retracted your hands. “Did that hurt?”

 

“N-no, it… felt nice…” He mumbled quietly.

 

“Okay…” You placed your hands back and he sighed. You started moving your hands around him gently, almost like you were brushing him off. Starting at his shoulders and down his arms. It reminded you of touch therapy the way you were working on Sans. You wonder if a human who practices this could do it on monsters and have similar results. You were so busy thinking about the possible future of therapies for monsters, you didn’t even notice Sans making small quiet moans. You made your way down to his ribs and spine, that’s when you noticed something different. You were getting spark feelings all of the sudden.

 

“Can you do that again?” Sans asks you.

 

You jump from the sound of his deep voice. Was it always that deep? “Um… sure…” You run your hands down his spine starting at his skull and it felt like pop rocks were on your fingers. When you made it to the center of his ribcage on his spine, something white appeared inside his ribcage and that spark feeling ran up your arms. Sans jumped like you just shocked him. “Whoa!” You stepped away as you lost control of your magic and watched as the blue in your hands took over your arms and then the rest of your body.

 

Sans was sitting up panting with one eye glowing at you. There were sparks going everywhere, it was like there was a blue firecracker in his eye. “Wow…”

 

“What happened?” You are trying to get ahold of your magic before anyone sees you.

 

“I don’t know. My magic suddenly activated without me doing anything…” Sans rubbed his skull. You noticed that his body had this light blue glow all around his body. He looked back at you and just stared into your eyes, making you shy.

 

You turn your head to the side, unsure if you blush in your fire form or not. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

 

Sans cleared his throat. “Um… I just never have seen a fire element monster’s eyes do that before. It’s like there is a sparks going off inside them… I wonder if it is because you are half human?”

 

“Oh… wait what?” You stared at Sans for a moment. Your eyes don’t do that, do they? You'd looked in the mirror before in this form, you've never seen them… “Hey Sans, hold out your hand.” You took a few steps toward him.

 

“Um… okay?” He held up a hand, still engulfed in his magic. Gently, you touched your finger tips to his and there was a little spark. You pull back slightly in shock, but continue till your fingers entwine with each other’s. The spark engulfed your entire arm and ran through your body pleasantly. You both sigh, enjoying the new feeling. It was so strange and so exhilarating. You look away from your hands up at Sans. He is already staring at you intently. There it was, sparks of magic in his eye sockets, even the one that had no eye light in it had them. It was beautiful.

 

“Wow.” You both said at the same time.

 

“Sans…” You step closer to him.

 

“Hmm?” He tightens his grip on your hand.

 

“I think we might be SOUL m-”

 

_Knock Knock_

 

You and Sans let go each other’s hands as you stepped away. Your co-worker from earlier called from the other side of the door. “Hey ___, just letting you Mrs. Jamison came early.”

 

“O-okay…” You turn around, unable to look at Sans as you will your magic back down. After a few moments of deep breathing, you were finally able to go back to your normal form. “I… um… have other people to see… I guess…” You awkwardly look to the side at Sans.

 

Sans jumps down from the table. “Y-yeah…” He goes over and slides his shoes and shirt on before grabbing his sweater and walking to the door.

 

“Um…” He stops in front of you when you spoke up. “I… I’ll see you later… right?” Your heart is pounding as you wait for him to reply.

 

He reaches out to your hand he'd been holding moments ago and holds it up as he entwines your fingers. “Definitely…”

 

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. “Cool…”

 

“No babe, you’re hot.” He winks at you as you groan.

 

“Seriously, fire puns?” You roll your eyes at him.

 

He shrugs. “Hmm, it could be, or I could be complimenting you. I’ll let you figure that out.” And out the door he goes, leaving you a blushing mess with your heart pounding so hard it might explode.

 

* * *

 

You rush home after work. Locking the door of the store and turning off the lights, you run upstairs to your apartment. You plan to call your dad as soon as you make it upstairs, because you are freaking out! Sans… the lazy bag of puns and cheap jokes is possibly your SOUL mate… You rub your eyes as you walk into your living room, but when you move them off your face you instantly put them back and scream “EWWWW, GROSS! WHY HERE?!” You'd just walked in on your parents… making out on your couch… what the hell? At least they weren’t doing something else or you would have to burn the couch and your eyes.

 

“Sorry Booper. We didn’t mean to… we were waiting for you to come home so we could have a family dinner… but we kind of got distracted…” Your Zaza blushed as your father still had his arms wrapped around them.

 

“I like that idea, but don’t you ever do that here again. You got a house to do that in.” Your Zaza giggled as you made fake gagging sounds.

 

Grillby stood up and headed for the kitchen. He gave your Zaza ta look. “Okay, I’ll tell her.”

 

“What was that? You guys can communicate through eye contact?” Your Zaza motioned for you to sit with them.

 

“Yes, I mastered the art of Grills' talk a long time ago. Now onto the important topic of living arrangements, Grillby and I are going to live together… but not right away…” Your Zaza had a very serious look on their face. “We think for the time being, we should try not to seem too close to the rest of the public right now. We don’t want anything to happen with all these protesters around. Once everything calms down, we’ll see if we can live together or if we should move to another town.”

 

“What? That isn’t fair… You guys should be together; you guys have been separated from each other for so long. You guys love each other, if you didn’t I wouldn’t be here.” You complained, great you are going to be given the ‘stay hidden’ talk.

 

Zaza sighed, brushing away hair that wasn’t on their face. They always do that when they have to talk about something they don’t want to talk about. “I know, you are right that you are the outcome of us loving each other. But this won’t be taken lightly by people, especially your grandfather. You need to keep your magic under control.” You twitch. Their eyes narrow, shit… “___, what happened? Did you burn down another building?”

 

“What? No I haven’t done that in years.” You fiddle with your fingers, unable to look them in the eyes.

 

“Something is on her mind…” Grillby set down three plates of burgers and fries on the dining table and then came over to sit down next to you. “She gets that from you…”

 

“Huh? Gets what?” Zaza tilts their head, unaware of their nervous habits.

 

“Nothing happened today okay? Let's eat.” You stand up and practically run away to the table with food.

 

You hear your parents giggle. Grillby holds out his hand to Zaza and helps them up. They hold hands over to the table and sit down with you. “So, what happened today? Something that has to do with your magic, you made a face when I mentioned it going out of control.”

 

You groan into your hands. “Okay fine, um… Dad?” Grillby’s face instantly turned blue as you called him dad. He looks so happy, his mouth is actually visibly smiling. You have to look away. “Does… does your magic go out of control when you use it on Zaza? Cause today at work, Sans went in as a client and…” You couldn’t look up from your plate, this was so embarrassing.

 

“I knew it… damn it… Of course it’s Sans…” Grillby grumbled into his hand. You look up, confused. What kind of history do they have for him to have that kind of reaction?

 

* * *

 

You are sitting in the bookstore alone. Not many people are going shopping lately with all the rioting. Things seemed to be getting worse in the last two days. It doesn’t help that home life is awkward either. Your Zaza and dad can’t seem to keep their hands off each other. Thankfully they went out with each other today. Hopefully they stay clear of the rioters. You are stirred out of your thoughts when you hear a little bell indicating that someone came in. “Knock knock.” You jump back when you see Sans standing in front of you, knocking against the counter.

 

“Whoa! How’d you get over here so fast?” You blinked at him; it took him maybe two seconds to make it over from entering the store to the other side where you were.

 

“That isn’t what you are supposed to say. Knock knock.” He knocks on the counter again.

 

“Who’s there?” You asked in a more questioning tone.

 

He just smiled at you. “Match.” He grabs your hand.

 

You bite your lip as your fingers entwine. “Match who?”

 

“Looks like we are a match made in heaven.” You snort at the joke. “So yesterday… was interesting.” He scratches the back of his head.

 

You nod in agreement. “Yeah, I was so confused; I had to talk to my parents about it… I was so uncomfortable…”

 

Sans chuckles. “I usually went to Grillby for advice but uh… that didn’t really seem like an option in this situation, unless I was looking to be turned to ash. So the only other person I could think of going to was Frisk’s mom, the former Queen. You can imagine how that went over with Frisk.”

 

You giggle at Sans’ forlorn expression. “Speaking of my father, he wanted me to tell you something.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“He’ll approve of our possible relationship if, and I am quoting directly now, ‘you pay your fucking tab’.” Sans’ eye lights go out and you start laughing hysterically.

 

Sans wipes away some sweat from his skull. “That’s not funny. There is no way I would be able to pay that much back so fast.” You laugh at him as he fumbles on his words.

 

You look down at your joined hands and smile pleasantly. “So… what do we do now?”

 

Sans tightens his grip on your hand. “I don’t know, just kind of go with it. See if this spark turns into burning passion.”

 

“Sans… stop with the fire puns.”

 

“I know you lava them.” You groan as he just smiles wider. There was a pleasant atmosphere around you two… till a brick went through the front window.

 

* * *

 

_“As you can see behind me a riot took place today in the middle of the streets of town. Anti-Monster activists were vandalizing stores that were deemed monster friendly and openly serving to monsters. People are becoming more hostile as the two species begin to mingle. The activists have also been passing around a petition to make a monsters only area where all the monsters must live and set up monster ownly businesses. Mayor Patterson is openly against this petition but with the rising demand and popularity of the petition, he now has to discuss it with city officials to see what they will have to do for peace-”_

You turn off the TV, not wanting to listen to it anymore. You drag your hands down your face and pull your knees to your chest. Sans sits down next to you and hands you a cup of tea. “Your Zaza said that you would want this.” You take it from him and give him a silent nod. “Your parents are nonstop flirting in the kitchen by the way.”

 

“You get used to it.” You chuckled. “You are going to have to if you and Paps are staying here with us.” Thanks to the vandalism, you didn’t feel safe at the bookstore and came to your Zaza’s house. Sans and Pap’s came along because you insisted. With people becoming violent, you felt better having Sans and Papyrus at your Zaza’s cabin that was in the middle of the woods. At least Grillby and Zaza get to live together for a bit.

 

Sans wraps an arm around you. “Promise me we’ll never become like that.” He said jokingly.

 

“But honey, you are just too handsome to not flirt with.” You lean into him, sipping on your drink.

 

Sans chuckles. “That’s _sweet_ of you to say. You’re pretty hot too.” You groan.

 

“I’m going to be listening to fire puns for the rest of my life, aren’t I?”

 

“You bet your _ash_ you are.”

 

* * *

 

You are standing at City Hall with all the monsters and people who support them are protesting against the monster-segregation bill. The anti-monster protesters are having a rally today because tomorrow is when they make the final decision of whether or not to pass it. They even set up a stage with speakers so everyone can hear the horrible things they have to say about monsters and the monster rights enthusiasts. You are holding hands with Sans while standing with your parents as someone new came on stage; he was a much older man with a very stern look on his face. “Dad…” You looked at your Zaza and then back on stage.

 

“These things have been terrorizing my family longer than anyone else here. My child was one of the people who managed to make it back from the mountain alive. But they didn’t come back to me as the child I raised. One of those monsters took advantage of them while they were Underground. Because of that, I lost my child all over again. I will never forgive him for what he did to my child. Monsters wouldn’t be allowed around humans, they can’t be trusted!” He shouted into the mike. People cheered in agreement as this man made Grillby out as the bad guy when he saved your Zaza’s life and they fell in love. You look to your Zaza and Grillby who were still holding hands, they had worried looks on their faces. This can’t go on…

 

You let go of Sans’ hand and take a step. “___?” You smile at him before crossing the picket line.

 

“Booper!” Your Zaza called out to you as you made a run for the stage before the man stepped down.

 

“Hey! Old man! You are a liar!” You shouted up at him.

 

He just glared down at you. “You don’t know what you are talking about. You don’t know what I and my family have gone through.”

 

“Yes I do. You forgot to mention that they were pregnant!” You climbed onto the stage. “And that they had fallen in love with the monster that saved them from dying after falling down a hole.” His eye twitched as you snatched the mic from him and started talking to the crowd. “Let me ask you guys a question. How many of you read the book _The Flame in the Mountain_?  Come on, don’t be shy.” Many hands went up. “Have you read it?” You turned to the man who just huffed at you and shook his head. “I am surprised you didn’t read it since it was written by your child, but then again, from what I heard you pretty much kicked them out. That person who wrote the book and came back from the mountain is my Zaza, the person who gave birth to me. And this story is more than just a romance novel of people who are supposed to be enemies falling in love. This is the story of how my parents met. I've read that book so many times, I memorized it and I have waited my entire life for the barrier to fall because my father was the monster who saved them from death.”

 

“Are you saying you’re half monster and half human?”

 

“Bullshit.”

 

“Fucking monster raped a human.”

 

“That’s disgusting.”

 

“Oh please, that’s impossible.”

 

“Who would fuck a monster?”

 

“Off the stage! Booo!”

 

Everyone started shouting at once; you could feel yourself becoming more irritated by the minute by them and their comments. “You are getting all fired up, babe.” You groan loudly into the mic.

 

“Sans, I swear to god… if I didn’t like you…” You turned to Sans to yell at him but pause. “Wait… how’d you…?”

 

“I’ll take it from here Booper.” Your Zaza takes the mic from you and stands in front of the crowd while still holding Grillby’s hand. “H-hi… um… I’m the author of _The Flame in the Mountain_ , and what my daughter said is true. This is Grillby, he found me covered in bruises and cuts with a broken leg after my fall. He helped me, took care of me, and made sure my leg healed properly. While I was there, Grillby and I fell for each other; we are what monsters call SOUL mates. This between us  is what we want. I want to be with Grillby, I have been waiting for him since the moment I left the mountain. This is all consensual.” They turn to their father, who looked completely furious.

 

“If that thing is her father, then why does she look human?” Someone shouted.

 

Zaza looked to you questioningly. Might as well show them now that they know.

 

* * *

 

“So tired…” You flop onto your couch and sigh. “Home sweet home, no more staying at Zaza’s and watching my parents flirt.” Today is the day you find out if the bill is passed or not. You have already made up your mind that you will move to the monster district if the bill is passed. Zaza plans to do the same thing with Grillby. You really couldn't handle another day of the mushy couple and went home to watch the news. It would be safer for you to be here instead of at City Hall. After the show you did yesterday, you are surprised the anti-monsters people haven’t come to kill you yet since you are proof that monsters and humans can be together, romantically speaking. Life is way too stressful lately. “I am ready to sleep for a year now.”

 

Sans chuckled at you. “You trying to take my title as king of the lazy?”

 

“Oh no, I am nowhere close to your level of laziness.” You sit back up to make room for Sans on the couch. He sits down and instantly drapes his arm around your shoulders.

 

“Heya, I been burning to ask you this question.”

 

You roll your eyes. “What?”

 

“You said your SOUL does something when you change into your fire form… I was wondering… could I see?” Sans’ face is blushing blue as he eyes your chest.

 

You smirk at him. “Are you hitting on me Mr. Skeleton?” You tease him.

 

“Maybe I am.” He mumbles. Oh, you weren’t expecting that kind of answer. “I’ve wanted to see it since…”

 

“Ok…” You turn your body to him with your legs crossed.

 

“Really?” He turned to you excitedly.

 

You nod. “Yes, but no bonding yet. We are nowhere close to that yet.” Sans nods a quick agreement and swallows as he waits for you. You close your eyes and concentrate on pulling out your SOUL. When a bright light starts shining through your eye lids, you open them to see a blue heart floating in front of you. You can hear Sans’ mumble words of admiration. “Told you it’s a pretty color. Now here comes the fun part.” You start to concentrate on your magic and to change into your fire form. The SOUL responds to your efforts and it slowly flips, turning upside down. A blue smoke starts coming out of the tip of the heart, draining it of its color. The smoke starts to swirl around your body and starts being absorbed by you at your fingertips and up your arm. Smoke keeps coming out till the heart is completely white and your body is in full fire form.

 

“Wow… it looks like a monster SOUL now.” Sans is staring at your SOUL in pure awe.

 

You nod. “It does it in reverse when I go back into human form. And the process is a lot slower when my SOUL is outside my body.” You pull your SOUL back into your chest. Sans looks a little disappointed. “Don’t worry; you’ll get to see it as much as you want later.” You wink at him. You look down at your fiery hands; maybe you should be in your fire mode more often. You can do it now that everyone knows.

 

“It’s almost time…” Sans holds up the remote. “You ready?”

 

“Yeah…” You grab Sans’ hand, entwining your fingers as Sans turns on the TV. No matter what happens, you won’t have any regrets and you have people to support you in your future.

 


End file.
